Prologue: Landing in the sky!? Dream of a new world!
Dream
At first there was nothing but an empty void that seemed to go on for miles. There was no color, no sound, nothing but the seemingly endless stream of darkness. Suddenly there was a flash of light and illuminated the void until it vanished only leaving a single man in its place. He had jet black hair spiked out in all directions, he wore a brown baggy pants that looked worn out and covered in stains, he had them while he wore a simple black muscle shirt with two pairs of gloves that had two gears printed on them.
He started shifting as he slowly opened his eyes and noticed his surroundings. However, as he looked down he found a strange platform, It appeared to be a glass mural with the image of a boy holding a comically oversized key in his hands.
"What the?" He continued to look at the picture, not realizing that it was slowly getting closer. That came to an end when he felt gravity take its full effect.
"OH SHITTTTTTTTTTTTT" He screamed as he plummeted towards the platform. However, after he hit the platform the impact didn't even leaving a crack on the glass picture. "Ow ow ow! Man, I'm gonna feel that in the morning!" he said as he rubbed the back of his head to ease the pain.
looking around he tried to find anyone around the area. However, there wasn't a single person in sight. He got up and walked over to the edge of the platform and saw the dark abyss that was underneath him.
"Umm anyone there? What's going on here? Where am I?" He shouted as he felt a chill run down his spine over the idea of the platform falling into the darkness below. "Ok brain please don't do that again!"
Suddenly the platform started to shake violently and the young man looked around in a panic for something to hold onto, after a minute the shaking stopped and three small pedestals rose from the glass. After a few minutes, he finally realized that the shaking stopped and looked at the items resting on the pedestals.
"ummmm.....ok, that's, different," he said walking over to a pedestal that had a sword resting on it.
As he picked up the sword it vanished in a flash of light and the pedestal sunk into the ground and the other two pedestals remained.
"Ooook then," He said as he looked at the other two pedestals, one had a shield with a picture of a gear printed on it and a wand with the same symbol carved into the top. "Ok, so I guess I just choose another one," He said walking over to the wand.
"Well I guess the most obvious would be a sword and a shield, but I wonder......" He picked up the wand and looked at the design.
"Umm, I guess I choose this one," He shouted only for the wand to vanish in a flash and the pedestal once again sunk into the ground.
The young man looked at the final pedestal, but this one didn't have anything on it. He stood there for a minute confused until something grabbed his leg. He looked down and saw a pool of darkness dragging him in. In a panic, he tried to tear the tentacles off only for his hands went right through them, after a minute of struggling he was completely engulfed.
He opened his eyes and looked around and saw that the platform had changed. Now the picture was of the key from earlier now with multiple pictures of different people surrounded by a heart outline with red thorned vines.
"What the hell! IF THIS IS A JOKE ITS NOT FUNNY!" He shouted at into the void. he tried to gather his thoughts over what had just happened and how he got here.
"So you're the Key?" A voice whispered from behind him.
He spun around and suddenly felt the wind being knocked out of him as he was sent flying towards the edge of the platform.
"What the hell was that for!"He said holding his stomach to try and ease the pain. looking up he saw a figure wearing a black robe that completely covered his face.
"You're still weak Zeno, it's clear that you are not ready to wield its power." The hooded man said as he walked over to where the young man was standing.
"W-wait how do you know my name?" He asked as the hooded man ignored him and continued his march.
Zeno looked for anything to defend himself with, but couldn't find anything so he ran to get a little distance from the hooded man but was stopped when he appeared in front of him.
"Running isn't an option." The hooded man said as he slapped the young man and sent him flying across the platform.
Rolling around holding his cheek to ease the pain Zeno glared at his opponent. "Ugh.....I am REALLY getting sick of that!" He said standing back up.
"Ok think Zeno what's the plan here, Think Dammit THINK!" He stood there as the hooded man continued his march. After a moment, it seemed like everything slowed down to a halt.
Zeno looked down at the picture of the key the boy was holding it felt like the key was..........calling him. Telling him to use it, but what is it? This was one of the many thoughts that raced through his mind. But were they really his thoughts or someone else's?
Suddenly time seemed to start and Zeno felt something new, something powerful, deep down inside himself. With one motion, he threw his left hand back and in a flash the key from the picture appeared in his hand and he spun on his heel brought the key down on the Hooded man. However, the man had disappeared completely leaving him completely dumbfounded.
"what? Where did he go?" Zeno looked around for the hooded man but found no one and what made matters worse was that the darkness from before was starting to appear again. Only this time it was in the form of little impish creatures.
"Ok, you want some, COME GET SOME!" Zeno shouted as the Imps attacked. He knocked one away with the key and saw it fall over the edge of the platform. Another Imp ran straight towards him, however, he squashed it into black smoke.
"YEAH, HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT!" Zeno shouted as he looked at the Imp, but jumped as he saw the creature crawled on the ground like a drawing.
As the Imp crawled away other Imps started to appear one by one and slowly they started to come together to create a hulking figure with muscled arms, it didn't have any feet just a stump of moving darkness that had veins slowly wiggling around climbing towards its torso, and it didn't have a face, but it had a head with a hole in the shape of a heart.
"Oh......my.......god." Zeno looked at the monster in front of him and slowly backed away until he was standing on the edge of the platform. "Oh, Shit!" He said as he realized he was about to fall off the edge, not realizing that the beast had heard his outburst and now was looking at him.
The beast grabbed Zeno and crushed him in his grip, he couldn't do anything but scream at the excruciating pain as the beasts grip got tighter and tighter.
"Dammit.......is this seriously it.........I'm gonna die? Nana, Grandpa, everyone!" He felt his conscious slipping further and further away. Until he felt his bone's snap and the pain nearly made him pass out.
"Dammit.........Dammit...............DAMMIT!" Zeno felt his muscle tense and his grip on the key tightened and he slowly lifted the key up and pointed it at the monster.
"I'M NOT GONNA DIE HERE YOU BASTARD!" Zeno shouted as a spark flickered on the tip of the key and slowly it grew to be an inferno the monster brought it's left arm up to try and stop him by crushing Zeno.
"BURN!!" Zeno shouted as the flame shot out and caught the monsters arm in an inferno which caused it to lose its grip. He hit the ground in a heap while the monster roared in agony at the loss of its arm.
"Ow............you think that's bad. Try being me in this situation," Zeno said under his breath as he clutched his sore body. He looked at the monster who was still trying to stop the flame from burning its whole arm off.
"Ok, time to finish this." Zeno grabbed the key once more and pointed the tip at the monster who finally able to stop the fire and looked to where he was standing. He tried to do the same thing he had done before, but it didn't work.
"Oh crap! WHY ISN'T IT WORKING!?" Zeno tried to bring out the fire but it still wasn't working no matter what he did.
The monster brought its right hand back and was ready to crush its enemy with one swing. However, Zeno looked up and saw the monster was preparing another attack.
"Oh......... CRAP!" He shouted running towards the base of the monster to get out of range and brought the key up and prepared to bash its stomach. The monster brought its fist down right behind Zeno as he ran towards its stomach. He stopped right at the monsters stomach and jumped to the right and rolled out of the away of the punch as it struck the monster right in its stomach. He got back up and ran behind the monster and prepared to attack.
"One......two.....THREE!" He swung the key towards the monsters head and surprisingly it bashed right through it. The monsters body began to crack like glass and light began to pour out. After a few seconds the body completely shattered and a glowing heart was left behind and gently floated away.
Zeno was breathing heavily, he tried to process what exactly was going on. Suddenly there was the sound of clapping coming from behind him, he turned around and saw the hooded man once again.
"Very impressive young man! I mean it! I was honestly expecting you to wake up from the dream when that heartless finished you off! But MAN you have some serious skills!" The hooded man said. However, this one sounded much younger than the other one and he seemed a bit shorter too.
"What the HELL is going on! what was with that crazy-ass monster that tried to KILL ME!? AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS KEY?" Zeno shouted as he threw the key on the ground which slid over to the hooded man.
"Well sorry kid, but," The hooded man said as he picked up the key and held it in front of him, but it vanished in a flash of light and reappeared in Zenos hands.
"You're the chosen one!" The hooded man said in an overly dramatic tone. He started laughing until Zeno decided he had enough.
"Would you shut up! why? WHY ME!? WHAT DID I DO, I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS! I DON'T WANT THIS!" Zeno shouted as he threw the key into the darkness, but once again the key reappeared in His hands.
"Sorry kid, but that's not how this game is played." The hooded man said as he pulled down his hood to show a young man who looked very young, he was short with long blond hair that went down his back, finally he had striking pale green eyes.
"Who are you! What is this.....THING!" Zeno shouted as he pointed the key at the hooded man.
"My name is Zexus. That thing you keep swinging around like a dumb ass is the key to saving your life kid." Zexus said as he pointed at the key Zeno was holding. "To put it in the simplest way possible that thing you just got rid of was a Heartless. They are creatures of darkness that hunt human hearts to become stronger, and you my young friend have been chosen as their sworn enemy." Zexus said as he started walking around the platform.
"What? Why? why am I their enemy? And what happened to my home, my family, my friends!" Zeno shouted stepping closer to the Zexus trying to intimidate him, however, Zexus only smiled and ignored him.
Zeno charged at Zexus with his weapon at the ready, however, Zexus calmly walked towards him but in the blink of an eye he dodge his attack and brought his fist into his stomach. He fell to the ground gasping for air while glaring at Zexus.
"This guy hits harder than the other guy that's for sure." Zexus pulled him up by the hair and started dragging him over to the edge of the platform.
"Let's say for a moment kid I answered all your questions, what would be the point? The best part of an adventure if you already had an answer to all your problems. Sorry kid but this isn't how the game is played." Zexus said as he dragged Zeno over to the edge of the platform and held him over the abyss.
"OH SHIT!" Zeno shouted as he looked down into darkness.
"Hey kid look at this way, It's not every day someone get the chance to travel for free," Zexus said as he threw him into the abyss watching him sink further and further into darkness, screaming at the top of his lungs.
It was a very calm afternoon and the stars were shining brightly in the night sky. A woman was watching the stars while playing a peaceful tune on the harp. She had blond hair that were tied in pigtails, also with two antennas and wearing a pink dress with black flower shaped textures that went down her thigh.
As she finished her song she stares at the night sky and brings her hands together and begins to pray. "Please oh god. Grant us your guidance and deliver us from evil. Protect the sky islands and please protect my father and me. In your name dear god, I give you these prayers. And my soul. Amen." she brought her hands down and gently smiled only she noticed something shining in the distance.
"A shooting star?" she said watching as the object seemed to get closer. It was only after the object was in range did she realize how fast it was going and she instantly jumped out of the way.
There was a huge explosion that seemed to shake the entire area. The girl looked up and saw the ground was torn apart and burnt. She got up and investigated the crash and looked to where the trail ended. What she wasn't expecting to find, however, was a young man passed out with burn marks and scratches covering his whole body.
"CONIS!" Someone shouted from above the shoreline. She looked up to find her father with a worried look as he ran down the stairs to his daughter.
"Father!" she said as he made his way to the crash. Both of them looked at the man with worried expressions and slowly they walked over to inspect his condition.
Suddenly the man started to cough violently and he seemed to be in a grat deal of pain, however, it proved that he was still alive which was a relief to conis and her father.
"What should we do father?" She asked as she bent down and tried to help the man by putting his arm around her. "What other choice do we have?" he said as he got around the other side and helped lift him out of the crater and slowly began to drag the man up the stairs.
"let's just hope nothing happens because of this." The two managed to get him into their home without anyone seeing them and prepared to treat his wounds. In the distance, However, there was a lone figure wearing a black robe watching the scene but soon left as he walked through a vortex of darkness appeared behind him.
In a dark room with the only light shining on a small table, a group of women sat around waiting for their orders.
suddenly there was a flash and an image of an older man with old faded blond hair that went down his back. he wore a white robe with no diffining features and he seemed to be resting his chin on his hand. He took a deep breath and looked at the six in front of him."Ok, the time has come to give you all a new assignment.".
"YIPPEE!!" Squeed the voice of an overly peppy girl as she bounced in her chair.
"Girl you had best calm down. We all know what happened last time you went gung hoe on a mission,"The voice of a woman with a very strong southern draw said as she propped her stetson back.
"Aw come on AJ cut the girl some slack. We haven't been on the job in months!" The voice of a girl with a very cocky tone retorted as she leaned back in her seat.
"And whose fault was that? Last time I checked darling wasn't it both of you who put us on probation." The voice of a woman with a very posh accent said as she checked her fingernails.
"GIRLS! We can debate this later! Please continue sir." The voice of a very scholarly sounding women said as she focused her attention on their leader.
There was a brief pause before the presentation continued and the image of a man with jet black hair and crimson red eyes appeared on a screen. "This man is your target. His name is Zeno, no present last name. He was once an third tear engineer from tinker town. However, recently he has gotten the attention of Imperium and now is a wanted man." the older man said as he looked at the six in front of him.
"Your mission is to take him in alive and bring him here for the exchange. You have your orders! DISMISSED!"
Welcome to the sky islands! Meeting the Sky people!
"sky Island"
It has been a week since Ray crash landed on the sky islands and he is still unconscious. When he first arrived he had been badly injured, but Conis and her father Pagaya were able to treat his wounds. He was constantly tossing, and mumbling in his sleep, which worried his caretakers.
Conis was caring for her pet cloud fox named Su when her father walked into the room. "Father is he going to be alright?" she asked.
"He's going to be fine. But I still don't understand how he got here." He said stroking his beard. Conis put on a cheerful smile to tried to lighten the mood "Don't worry father! everything's going to be fine," she said as he followed her example and put on a smile. "I'm going to the beach for awhile. I'll be back soon. come on Su." she said picking up her harp as Su followed her out the door.
In the other room, their guest began to stir and he put his hand over his eyes to try and shield them from how bright the room was. He got to his feet and began to realize how strange the room looked. it looked like everything looked fluffy like a cloud. After a few seconds he felt how cold it was but looked down to notice.......he was completely naked.
"Oh come on seriously?" he said as he looked around for his clothes only to find them hung up on the wall. Strangely enough, they looked cleaner than they normally were. Not only that but it seemed like somebody had fixed some of the holes in his pants. "Huh? Well, I guess wherever this place is the people seem nice enough." He said as he slipped into his clothes.
After getting dressed, he walked out into what looked like a small living room with the same kind of exterior as the other room. "Wow why does everything look so fluffy here?" he said walking around and examining everything.
"Peso!" A voice said from behind him. He turned around to find an older man standing in the doorway to some kind of kitchen.
"Um, who are you?" Ray asked as the older man chuckled and took a seat on the couch. "My name is Pagaya. May I ask who are you?" he asked as Ray flushed and bowed as a show of respect.
"I'm sorry how rude of me, my name is Ray sir! Thank you for helping me!" he said as pagaya on chuckled and gestured him to take a seat. "Um, thank you, sir," he said taking a seat.
"So I guess we should start by explaining where you are," Pagaya said offering tear to his visitor who gladly took it. "This is Skypiea the great islands located in the clouds," he said taking another sip of his tea. Ray, on the other hand, was completely baffled.
"WAIT AN ISLAND IN THE CLOUDS!" Ray shouted in shock almost choking on his tea. Pagaya nodded his head and took some time to explain the sky islands in detail. "So let me get this straight. You LITERALLY you have an entire civilization living up here on the clouds!" Ray said.
"Thats correct. Everything you see is made out of the clouds we engineered ourselves." Pagaya said. He looked at Ray with mild curiosity and waited for him to comprehend everything. Ray took some time to gather his thoughts, after all in the span of only a day he went from his normal routine to being launched into this new world of craziness. "Ugh......w-while I still don't understand the idea of people in the clouds it seems like for the time being I'm stuck here until I can find a way home," he said as he got up and walked to the balcony and looked into the vast white distance.
"It must be difficult being away from your home. But if you don't mind could you tell me where it is exactly you came from?" Pagaya said as Ray continued to look away. "I'm sorry.......but I need some time," he said with a pained expression. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-" Pagaya said franticly, but Ray cut him off. "Pagaya stop. You saved me you have nothing to apologize for," he said with a smile.
The two continued to talk for what felt like hours. Most of the talking came from Pagaya who was still explaining all the details of skypiea and Ray looking star struck from all the information being given to him. After a while, a woman walked in and looked excitedly at Ray which caused him to blush lightly at her.
"I'm so glad that your alright when you first arrived you had us very worried," she said looking at her father who nodded. "Ray this is my daughter Conis," he said as conis gave a warm smile to her guest. "And this here is my pet cloud fox, Su," she said as a little fox jumped up on Rays head. "SU!" it said which everyone to laughed at.
"Thank you both so much I owe you both so much!" Ray said as he rubbed the back of his head trying to ignore the blush lighting up his face. "It's fine Ray, after all its not your fault for how you got here," Conis said as she walked into the kitchen. "Um what is she doing?" he asked as Pagaya shrugged his shoulders and waited. After a minute, she walked back into the living room with some food. "I imagine being asleep for a week left you famished. Go ahead dig in!" she said as Ray felt is stomach growl.
It has been 3 days since Ray woke up on the sky islands and he has made a full recovery. Now that he has finally recovered he took some time to explore the town with some money that the people here called extols. Of course, Conis offered to help him get around just in case.
"Man, I seriously feel bad for taking your money. Seriously I feel like such a leech." Ray said as he looked at the money. "Don't be silly! You're a nice person and we wouldn't just throw you out." Conis said with a smile. "Thanks again Conis, So were to first!"
The pair walked around a place the natives called Lovely street where they can buy food and stuff. The thing that interested Ray, however, was all the shells the people had.
"Um, Conis what's with all the sea shells? I've noticed there are A LOT of them around here," he said as Conis only giggled and pointed to a store up the road. "That place over there is the perfect place to answer your questions," she said as she took his hand and dragged him to the store.
After walking in Ray noticed there were rows and rows of the shells from before. "Peso! How may I help you today?" A female cashier asked. "Actually I'm teaching my friend here about dials, you don't mind do you?" Conis asked. "Oh not at all! Please let me know if you two need anything," the cashier said.
Conis started to explain the dials in the shop and what some of their purposes where such as The Flame Dial, The Heat Dial, The Flavor Dial, and various others. Ray looked in amazement at the wide variety of dials with almost childish enthusiasm. "This is incredible! and you said that all this just comes from a SHELLFISH!!" Ray said excitedly. "Thats correct every one of the dials here washed up from the white-white sea and we use them in our everyday lives," she said watch as Ray ran down multiple aisles examining the dials for sale.
"This is crazy! I mean it's not any of the current tech but to think a race like this one in the absents of technology they replaced it with something like THIS! It's absolutely incredible!" Ray said with an arm full of dials in his hands. Conis only giggled as Ray blushed as he realized how immature he was. "Heh-heh well.....it's pretty cool I guess," he said as he put the dials back.
"How about we get going? My father said he wanted to show you something," conis said with a knowing smile. The pair walked out and headed towards the beach. As Ray walked forward he noticed someone strange walking towards him, however, he didn't put much thought into it until after he passed them. The figure wore a brown cloak that covered its face and whoever it was they were tall, at least a foot taller than Ray who was at least stood 6 ft tall.
"Be careful kid. Getting to comfortable could be dangerous. After all darkness is all around us." The voice man said as the world seemed to slow down around them. However just as soon as it happened it stopped and Ray spun around to try and get a glimpse of him, but he disappeared. Ray rubbed his eyes and looked around but didn't find anyone.
"Are you coming?" Conis shouted as Ray came to his senses and continued to followed Conis to the beach.
"What was that all about? How did that guy know me? And what was he talking about? 'darkness all around us?' I don't get it." he continued to walk with Conis not noticing her worried glances.
After finally arriving at the beach Pagaya was working on two strange devices. "What are you working on their gramps?" Ray asked as he walked over to the strange looking machine. "I'm glad you both could make it. I guess you're wondering what these are?" He asked as Ray inspected the machine.
"Ummm, I have a slight idea. To be honest, this looks like something I heard about in stories back home. Apparently they used a machine like this to run on water but it took gasoline to get it started." He said stood up and looked at Pagaya who was puzzled to say the least.
Conis took the lead in explaining seeing as her father was lost at the moment. "It's called a waver. They are made from a small boat with a Breath Dial installed inside and a set of handlebars that are connected to the front wheel," she said gesturing towards the waver. "Wavers are extremely hard to control and it usually takes ten years to master. I myself just mastered it not to long ago," she added while Ray climbed on board.
"Hmm... Do you mind if I test it out?" Ray asked as Pagaya gave a thumbs up. He looked around and for the pedals and realized how simple the machine was. "All right....... LETS RIDE!!" he shouted as the waver roared to life and sped off into the vast white sea.
Pagaya and Conis watched as their spirited young friend drove off into the distance, but recoiled in horror as a thought had just come roaring back to them. "THE UPPER YARD!!!"
As Ray was exploring the white sea, he thought back to the strange dream he had and the monsters that attacked him. He thought about the man Zexus he met within his dream and the words he spoke. "You are the chosen one!" The full gravity of what was happening around him did not sink in until this very moment. The idea that he may never get home........was almost too much to bare. The waver slowed down to a halt and it and Ray stood dead in the water.
"Dammit.........." He felt the tears build up, but didn't do a thing to stop them. He felt like in this vast sea of white...........that he was all alone in a pit of darkness. Suddenly he heard something in the distance. "What the....is that......crying?" he said as he tried to hear the cries. After waiting he heard something else...something he was all too familiar with lately. It was the sound of panic.
Ray pushed the throttle and speed off towards the screams as fast as the waver could go. After riding for a solid 3 minutes, he found a patch of cloud that looked strange and heard the screams again this time much closer. Without a blink of hesitation, he floored the throttle and blasted through the cloud.
After tearing through the cloud wall, he found a small village that was under attack from the monsters from his dreams, the Heartless. He looked to see a group of them about to pounce on a small child.
"W-WIPER!!" She shouted as the Heartless pounced only to be pushed back by the falling waver. Ray landed with a thud and picked the child up and started running. "Hey let me down!" she shouted as she tried to struggle her way out of his grasp.
"Shut up! We need to get somewhere safe!" He shouted which seemed to silence her. As he continued to run he noticed that the heartless had stopped chasing the villagers and were now chasing him.
He spun around and saw that a large mass of heartless had gathered and it looked like they had enough running. "Oh crap! what do I do!?" The Heartless charged at the pair and all he wrapped his arms around the girl to protect her.
"Do not fear the darkness. For you are the light. Let the power of the light guide you to the truth. NOW LET YOUR LIGHT EMPOWER YOUR HEART! CALL THE FORTH LIGHT AND LET IT BE YOUR WEAPON! CALL FORTH THE KEYBLADE"
Ray Let go of the girl then spun around and suddenly a bright flash of light covered the area, blinding everyone in the area. After the light died down and now Ray had a strange weapon, the weapon looked like a giant key with a design of a crown on the end of the key.
He looks at the strange weapon in detail but quickly remembers the immediate danger and got into a battle stance. The Heartless watched their pray with anticipation. Ray smiled and switched his grip on the key and then in charged at the heartless who attacked.
"HERE I COME!"
"Unknowen"
Standing on top of a cloud over the sky island, a man wearing a Brown cloak was watching the skypieans go about their daily lives. As he watched he felt a presence appear behind him.
"So how can I help you? Okria," The cloaked man said with a chuckle. The creature that stood behind him was a large Blue frog that seemed to be standing on its hind legs with a katana hanging off its back. It had piercing red eyes that seemed to see right through whoever met its gaze.
"I could ask you the same Akuma," He said as Akuma threw the cloak and let his long shaggy red hair fall down over his back. He had a jagged red horn sticking out of his forehead and he stretched his legs and looked over his should at his visitor with his crimson red eyes. "Ugh! Damn I got really tired of wearing that!" he shouted as he looked at his college.
"What are you doing here? It's not like you to get involved in the affairs of mortals Akuma." Okria said as he looked at the skypieans below. "Especially mortals that are this close to Arcania," he said watching some of the people praying to some sort of statue.
"I'm not here for them. I'm here for something far more interesting than those bugs!" Akuma said as he looked off into the distance.
Okria looked off into the direction Akuma was staring at. "So who are you here for?" He asked as Akuma gave a cocky chuckle and folded his arms.
"I'M AFTER A TRUE WARRIOR! THE KEYBLADE MASTER!"
TO BE CONTINUED!
